scholarly journals Key Melanesian media freedom challenges: Climate crisis, internet freedoms, fake news and West Papua

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Robie
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Network Television ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
West Papua ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Climate Crisis

Melanesia, and the microstates of the Pacific generally, face the growing influence of authoritarian and secretive values in the region—projected by both China and Indonesia and with behind-the-scenes manipulation. There is also a growing tendency for Pacific governments to use unconstitutional, bureaucratic or legal tools to silence media and questioning journalists. Frequent threats of closing Facebook and other social media platforms and curbs on online freedom of information are another issue. While Pacific news media face these challenges, their support networks are being shaken by the decline of Australia as a so-called ‘liberal democracy’ and through the undermining of its traditional region-wide public interest media values with the axing of Radio Australia and Australia Network television. Reporting climate change is the Pacific’s most critical challenge while Australian intransigence over the issue is subverting the region’s media. This article engages with and examines these challenges and also concludes that the case of West Papua is a vitally important self-determination issue that left unresolved threatens the security of the region.

scholarly journals Review: Merdeka: Media and the case for Papuan civil resistance

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
David Robie
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Civil Resistance ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
West Papua

Five years ago the Pacific Media Centre and Pacific Media Watch published a ‘state of media freedom report’—the first such documentation in the Pacific region—and the most devastating section was about West Papua (Perrottet & Robie, 2011, 2012). The harrowing account of human rights violations and abuses of freedom of speech by the Indonesian military and security forces eclipsed comparable reports from the Pacific, including Fiji which was at the time a cause célèbre for free press champions. The theme of this report echoed many articles I have written over the years highlighting the ‘black’ or ‘blind spot’ demonstrated by New Zealand media neglect of covering West Papua and the self-determination cause (see Robie, 2011). Since then much has changed.

Mistrust in media will fuel US populism

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Consumer Trust ◽  
Corporate Ownership ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Alternative Facts ◽  
National Media ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Critical Coverage

Subject 'Fake news' and US politics. Significance Throughout his presidency and the campaign that preceded it, Donald Trump has attacked news media that broadcast or write critical coverage of him and his circle. His habitual denial of unfavourable reports has established ‘fake news’, ‘alternative facts’ and ‘post-truth’ in the political lexicon. In contrast to Trump’s shifting positions on policy questions, the president’s animus for the media has been one of the constant aspects of his presidency. Impacts Trump’s central focus on his personal legitimacy will see him increase attacks on the media as difficulties mount. Deregulation will concentrate corporate ownership of local and national media, exacerbating the polarisation of news. Increased regulation of social media platforms is unlikely to restore consumer trust. The traditional media will probably cater to concentrated pockets of affluent and educated consumers.

scholarly journals Citizen media and civil resistance in West Papua

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason MacLeod
Keyword(s):  
Essential Role ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
Civil Resistance ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
West Papua ◽  
The World ◽  
Making A Difference

This article charts the dynamics and trajectory of citizen media activism in West Papua’s fight for freedom which has progressed from not even registering in news rooms around the world to influencing sub-regional and regional bodies. Citizen media has played an essential role in this transformation. In 1998, when the Indonesian military massacred more than 100 unarmed West Papuans in Biak Island, it took weeks and months to get the news out. Back then West Papua was a military operations area (Daerah Operasi Militer). Few journalists were willing to risk travelling into the country to get the story out. In January 2016 West Papua remains an occupied colony. The Indonesian government still tries to curtail open access to West Papua for foreign journalists but courageous young people armed with cell phones are finding ways to bypass the government’s failed attempt at an informational blockade and it is making a difference. West Papuans are now members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Island Forum is starting to take notice of the Pacific’s longest running self-determination and decolonisation struggle.

scholarly journals REVIEW: Challenges over Pacific 'free media'

1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-150
Author(s):  
Robbie Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
News Media ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Free Media ◽  
Port Moresby

Review of Nius Bilong Pasifik: Mass Media in the Pacific, edited by David Robie. Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea Press. This is the first comprehensive resource book on the South Pacific news media. Its foreward, by Tongan Futa Helu, sets the agenda. 'Media freedom in the Pacific islands,' he declares, 'is in the balance'.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL: Melanesian media freedom

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Kasun Ubayasiri ◽  
Faith Valencia-Forrester ◽  
Tess Newton Cain ◽  
David Robie
Keyword(s):  
Self Determination ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
West Papua ◽  
The Media ◽  
Political Economic

The sovereign states of Melanesia are countries where the yoke of colonialism and struggles for independence are still within living memory. There are territories within Melanesia where the questions and complexities associated with achieving self-determination are very much live issues. In West Papua, this issue is one over which blood continues to be spilt. As these countries, and the communities within them, grapple with political-economic and technical shifts, the need for independent journalism is self-evident. However, journalists, editors, publishers and media owners face a barrage of challenges to their ability to operate free from repression or coercion by those who wield power in their societies. Some of these challenges are overt and can extend to threats or physical intimidation. Others are more subtle but no less pervasive and damaging. They lead to a narrowing of the media landscape, the loss of talented professionals to other areas, the rise of self-censorship, and more.

scholarly journals Internationalisation of the 'hidden' West Papua issue: A regional media matter for Melanesia and the Pacific

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnny Blades
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Pacific People ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
West Papua ◽  
Critical Media

Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre marked its tenth anniversary with a seminar discussing two of the wider region’s most critical media freedom crises. The ‘Journalism Under Duress’ in Asia-Pacific seminar in November 2017 examined media freedom and human rights in the Philippines and Indonesia’s Papua region, otherwise known as West Papua. In the discussion about West Papua, the PMC seminar heard that access to the Indonesian region for foreign journalists, while still restricted, remains critical for helping Papuan voices to be heard. The plight of West Papua is of major concern among Pacific people, especially Melanesians, and it is becoming a growing geopolitical and media issue.    

scholarly journals A crucible for bottom-up regionalism? The digital renaissance

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Titifanue ◽  
Romitesh Kant ◽  
Glenn Finau
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
West Papua ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Commentary: West Papua has one of the most repressive media landscapes in the world. Consequently, West Papuans have increasingly harnessed social media platforms to broadcast human rights violations committed in West Papua. Through this, Pacific Islanders around the region are increasingly leveraging social media as a political tool for showing solidarity and support for West Papuans. As a result, in recent years there has been a regional groundswell in support for West Papuan demands for self-determination, with prominent political figures such as Peter O’Neill of Papua New Guinea, and Gordon Darcy Lilo alluding to the awareness on West Papuan issues that have been raised through social media. This commentary explores how the rise of West Papua solidarity, is resulting in a heightened Pacific regional consciousness at the community level.

“I’ll Take a Shot for Every Like I Get on This Status”: Posting Alcohol- related Facebook Content Predicts Drinking Outcomes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Corwin Westgate ◽  
Kristen Lindgren
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorders ◽  
Drinking Motives ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Drinking Outcomes ◽  
Alcohol Related Problems

Objective:This study investigated whether self-reports of alcohol-related postings on Facebook by oneself or one’s Facebook friends were related to common motives for drinking and were uniquely predictive of self-reported alcohol outcomes (alcohol consumption, problems, and cravings).Method:Pacific Northwest undergraduates completed a survey of alcohol outcomes, drinking motives, and alcoholrelated Facebook postings. Participants completed the survey online as part of a larger study on alcohol use and cognitive associations. Participants were randomly selected through the university registrar’s office and consisted of 1,106 undergraduates (449 men, 654 women, 2 transgender, 1 declined to answer) between the ages of 18 and 25 years (M = 20.40, SD = 1.60) at a large university in the Pacific Northwest. Seven participants were excluded from analyses because of missing or suspect data.Results:Alcohol-related postings on Facebook were significantly correlated with social, enhancement, conformity, and coping motives for drinking (all ps < .001). After drinking motives were controlled for, self–alcohol-related postings independently and positively predicted the number of drinks per week, alcohol-related problems, risk of alcohol use disorders, and alcohol cravings (all ps < .001). In contrast, friends’ alcohol-related postings only predicted the risk of alcohol use disorders (p < .05) and marginally predicted alcohol-related problems (p = .07).Conclusions:Posting alcohol-related content on social media platforms such as Facebook is associated with common motivations for drinking and is, in itself, a strong predictive indicator of drinking outcomes independent of drinking motives. Moreover, self-related posting activity appears to be more predictive than Facebook friends’ activity. These findings suggest that social media platforms may be a useful target for future preventative and intervention efforts.

Electoral Integrity in America

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Class Group ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Red Flags ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Electoral Fraud ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
Electoral Laws ◽  
American Elections

The contemporary era raises a series of red flags about electoral integrity in America. Problems include plummeting public trust, exacerbated by President Trump’s claims of massive electoral fraud. Confidence in the impartiality and reliability of information from the news media has eroded. And Russian meddling has astutely exploited both these vulnerabilities, heightening fears that the 2016 contest was unfair. This book brings together a first-class group of expert academics and practitioners to analyze challenges facing contemporary elections in America. Contributors analyze evidence for a series of contemporary challenges facing American elections, including the weaknesses of electoral laws, overly restrictive electoral registers, gerrymandering district boundaries, fake news, the lack of transparency, and the hodgepodge of inconsistent state regulations. The conclusion sets these issues in comparative context and draws out the broader policy lessons for improving electoral integrity and strengthening democracy.

scholarly journals Introduction to special issue about election reporting: Why journalism (still) matters

Journalism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 985-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Cushion ◽  
Daniel Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Campaign Coverage ◽  
Election Coverage ◽  
Social Media Platforms

This introduction unpacks the eight articles that make up this Journalism special issue about election reporting. Taken together, the articles ask: How has election reporting evolved over the last century across different media? Has the relationship between journalists and candidates changed in the digital age of campaigning? How do contemporary news values influence campaign coverage? Which voices – politicians, say or journalists – are most prominent? How far do citizens inform election coverage? How is public opinion articulated in the age of social media? Are sites such as Twitter developing new and distinctive election agendas? In what ways does social media interact with legacy media? How well have scholars researched and theorised election reporting cross-nationally? How can research agendas be enhanced? Overall, we argue this Special Issue demonstrates the continued strength of news media during election campaigns. This is in spite of social media platforms increasingly disrupting and recasting the agenda setting power of legacy media, not least by political parties and candidates who are relying more heavily on sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to campaign. But while debates in recent years have centred on the technological advances in political communication and the associated role of social media platforms during election campaigns (e.g. microtargeting voters, spreading disinformation/misinformation and allowing candidates to bypass media to campaign), our collection of studies signal the enduring influence professional journalists play in selecting and framing of news. Put more simply, how elections are reported still profoundly matters in spite of political parties’ and candidates’ more sophisticated use of digital campaigning.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document